Bomb attacks kill 42 in Iraq

A double suicide attack and two other bombings killed at least 42 people in Iraq on Thursday in the deadliest day since US forces pulled out of towns and cities nationwide just over a week ago.

The suicide bombers targeted the home of a police sergeant and his brother, who also worked for the security forces, in the northern town of Tal Afar, provincial police chief General Khaled Hamdani told AFP.

The first attacker was wearing a police uniform and he blew himself up after his intended victims' door opened, killing the police sergeant, his wife and young daughter, and seriously wounding his brother, Hamdani said.

The attackers struck minutes apart around 1000 IST, with the second explosion engulfing civilians who had gathered to help victims of the first blast, a security official said.

It was the worst single incident in the conflict-hit country since American forces withdrew from Iraq's urban centres on June 30 under a landmark accord between Baghdad and Washington.

Dr Fathi Yassin at Tal Afar hospital said 35 people were killed and 61 wounded in the attack, carried out a day after two car bombs exploded in the main northern city of Mosul, killing 12 people and wounding dozens more.

Police and hospital sources said the casualties in Tal Afar included women and children.